This Week’s N.Y. Deal Sheet
The sweltering start to July has coincided with the warming of New York City's frigid lending and sales markets.
TOP FINANCING
Tishman Speyer and Silverstein Properties nabbed a $330M five-year, fixed-rate loan to refinance their 11 West 42nd St. office tower, the companies announced. Bank of America is the lead lender in the deal, while Taconic Capital provided a mezzanine loan. More than 321K SF of leases have been signed in the 960K SF building over the past two years, bringing the total occupancy to 99% with tenants including New York University, architects Kohn Pederson Fox and Citizen’s Bank and Trust. The deal was brokered by Newmark’s Dustin Stolly, Jordan Roeschlaub, Nick Scribani, Chris Kramer, Issa Abbassi and Holden Witkoff.
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Seventh Street Development Group has landed a $62.3M construction loan to develop a mixed-use property anchored by a Lidl discount supermarket in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. Invictus Real Estate Partners provided the two-year, floating-rate loan to fund the 103K SF project at 1730 Bedford Ave., which will have a 33K SF Lidl, 12K SF of additional retail, 57 apartments, 12K SF of office space and a 9K SF community facility. New York-based Maxim Capital Group and Santa Monica-based Beach Point Capital Management partnered to provide the debt, which was arranged by Eastern Union's Abraham Bergman and Yossi Orzel.
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NuVerse Advisors LLC has notched a $65.34M loan for a nine-story, mixed-use development in Astoria, Queens, from BHI, the U.S. division of Bank Hapoalim, according to a release. The sum will go toward the ground-up development of 30-55 Vernon Blvd., adding 121 residential units to the neighborhood in addition to two retail spaces and on-site parking.
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Apollo Global Management has lent $144M for the construction of a planned condo development in Manhattan’s West Village, Commercial Observer reported. Developer Aurora Capital Associates will use the sum to finance an 11-story, 106K SF property at 140 Jane St. made up of 11 units and 200 SF of retail space. Construction will launch in May. Dustin Stolly, Jordan Roeschlaub, Christopher Kramer, Nick Scribani and Benjamin Kroll of Newmark arranged the deal.
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Bank OZK has agreed to provide a $107M construction loan to Extell Development for a 160-unit condo project close to Lincoln Center in Manhattan, The Real Deal reported. The loan will go toward a planned 25-story tower at 36-44 West 66th St. and a 69-story tower at 50 West 66th St. The projects have faced challenges since Extell’s 2014 and 2015 acquisitions of the sites, as well as its 2019 air rights acquisitions, with the nonprofit City Club of New York suing the developer for allegedly violating zoning codes in its plan to create four mechanical floors underneath the project’s towers.
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A 100% affordable mixed-use multifamily development in the Hunts Point neighborhood of the Bronx has scored a $297M loan, according to a release. The Peninsula, which delivered 183 units of deeply affordable housing — along with a 57K SF light industrial space for minority and women-owned businesses and a 14K SF cultural arts center in 2022 — is kicking off its second phase. This next stage will bring two mixed-use multifamily properties to the neighborhood, totaling 359 units of 100% affordable housing, a 50K SF public plaza, a 155-space parking garage and a 20K SF community space. It will also provide amenity space including a gym, plus sustainable design elements to harvest solar power and rainwater.
Financing for Phase 2 was provided by the city's Department of Housing Preservation and Development, Housing Development Corp., the Economic Development Corp. and Wells Fargo. The development team is made up of Gilbane Development Co., Hudson Cos. and MHANY Management Inc. The Peninsula is scheduled to complete in 2029, bringing 740 units of affordable housing across five multifamily buildings to the neighborhood. The five-building development’s construction will be primarily financed via the proceeds from tax-exempt bonds issued under HDC’s Open Resolution, plus funds from HDC, subsidy from HPD, the sale of 4% Low-Income Housing Tax Credits, plus discretionary funding from Council Member Rafael Salamanca, a sponsor loan funded from NYSERDA grant funds and a sponsor loan that comes from refundable NYS Brownfield Tax Credits.
TOP SALES
Eyal Ofer’s Global Holdings Group has acquired the Mondrian Park Avenue hotel through a deed-in-lieu-of-foreclosure deal, according to a release. Global Holdings Group originally bought the $110M mortgage on the 190-key boutique NoMad hotel two years ago, following the hotel’s closure during the pandemic. Global Holdings Group reached a settlement agreement with Moin Development last September, giving Moin until June 30 to pay off a discounted loan balance, a source told Bisnow. The deal included Moin depositing the deed for the property, located at 444 Park Avenue South, into an escrow account. The deed was then transferred to Global Holdings as a deed-in-lieu-of-foreclosure, following Moin’s failure to pay off the loan by deadline.
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Affiliates controlled by Lee & Associates principals Peter Braus and James Wacht sold an office building at 875 Sixth Ave. to a joint venture of Kaufman Investments and Beacon Capital, The Real Deal reports. The 265K SF Chelsea building is 65% occupied by tenants including Ken Burns Media and Zero Point Zero Productions, and the new owners believe its location close to Penn Station, plus some planned renovations, will bring it more success. Kaufman and Beacon will assume the debt on the building with lender Genworth Life & Annuity Insurance Co., TRD reported.
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Apartment Income REIT has offloaded a duo of Yorkville rental buildings for $26.3M, according to deed records. The properties, located at 1691 and 1693 Second Ave., are each five stories high and contain eight units, according to listings on StreetEasy. It's unclear what plans the buyer, New York-based developer Alchemy-ABR Investment Partners, has for the properties.
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Empire Capital Holdings has bought Silverstein Properties’ 20-story, mixed-use office building at 529 Fifth Ave. for $107.6M, Crain’s New York Business reported. Public records show an LLC affiliated with Silverstein bought the 65-year-old property at the end of 2006 for $150M. The building underwent renovations in 2016 and was 72% leased at the time of the sale to Empire. The largest tenants in the property are the International Federation of Accountants, which has 22K SF, and wholesale jeweler SDC Designs, which has 30K SF.
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Hidrock Properties has sold 150 10th Ave., a rental building close to the High Line with empty stores at its base, for $26.9M to Benchmark Real Estate Group, Crain’s New York Business reported. The five-story, 15-unit property was built in 1900 and is one of three properties covered by a $26.5M floating-rate loan issued to Hidrock in April 2020 by Ladder Capital, according to previous reporting from Commercial Observer.
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Brookfield Properties has sold the Queenswood Apartments complex, located at 54-09 and 54-39 100th St. in Queens, to Slate Property Group for $38M, Crain’s New York Business reported. The two eight-story buildings are part of an affordable housing program that is due to expire, but Slate has worked out a deal with the city to extend the building’s affordability for another 40 years and reduce the income levels for affordable apartments. All current residents will be able to stay in their units under their existing rents, Slate said, and the local developer has plans for renovations to the 1990s-built properties, including new roofs, solar panels and upgrades for kitchens and bathrooms.
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Wavecrest Equities has purchased five buildings in the Bronx’s Little Italy neighborhood, according to a release. 2404-2416 Crotona Ave., 2476 Hughes Ave. and 2431 Belmont Ave. were sold by an undisclosed buyer for $28M, although the sales have yet to appear in deed records. Wavecrest also assumed two existing loans worth $20M on the properties as part of the purchase, which puts Wavecrest in charge of 180 units of Section 8 housing. Rosewood Realty Group's Ben Khakshoor and Alex Fuchs repped both the buyer and the seller.
TOP LEASES
Chelsea Piers is opening its first fitness center in Queens. Developers Tavros and Charney Cos. have signed a 72K SF lease for a Chelsea Piers Fitness outpost at their upcoming Long Island City tower at 24-11 Jackson Ave., the New York Post reported. The project, which is also backed by Incoco Capital, is set to rise 55 stories and include roughly 600 units. The gym will be available to the building's renters and the broader public, with facilities including a basketball court, an outdoor pool and track group fitness studios. JLL's Erin Grace and Matt Ogle brokered the deal.
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The Empire State Building has signed two leases totaling 40K SF, Commercial Observer reports. Contractor Skanska will stay in the building, signing a 25K SF lease to expand slightly from its prior 24K SF footprint on the 32nd floor, while accounting firm Aprio has signed for 15K SF to relocate from the Feil Organization’s 7 Penn Plaza. Both leases run for 10 years and had asking rents between $79 and $89 per SF. Empire State Realty Trust was repped in-house by Shanae Ursini in the Skanska deal, with CBRE’s Joseph Cabrera, David Glassman and Michael Gordon representing the contractor. In the second deal, Newmark’s Scott Klau repped ESRT, while JLL’s TJ Hochanadel repped Aprio.
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Taconic Partners’ life sciences arm, Elevate Research, has its first tenant at West End Labs, located at 125 West End Ave. near Lincoln Center. Graviton Bioscience, which develops treatments for autoimmune and high-risk diseases, signed for 30K SF for its new research and office headquarters, according to a release. West End Labs, which cost $600M to develop and spans 400K SF, has pre-built lab suites, a 300-person conference event center and a 15K SF landscaped roof terrace. The property sits where Chrysler’s 1929 showroom originally was, and was created in partnership with Nuveen Real Estate, LaSalle Investment Management, architect Perkins&Will and engineer Jaros, Baum & Bolles. Elevate was repped in-house by Matthew Weir and Matthew Malone, as well as CBRE’s Evan Haskell, Jonathan Schifrin and Taylor Walker. CBRE’s Davis Stockel repped Graviton in negotiations.
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The Paramount Building in Times Square has signed six tenants totaling 25K SF, according to a release. Landlord Paramount Leasehold LP has been working with architecture firm MKDA to create pre-built spaces from 2K SF to 12K SF as part of the $50M capital improvement project at 1501 Broadway that also involved upgrading elevators, escalators, common corridors and creating a new lobby. The pre-built suites are now 100% leased following the deals. Financial services firm Flexibility Capital took 7K SF, law firm Levine Plotkin & Menin took 5K SF with representation from Savitt Partners’ Elliot Zelinger and Corey Hight, Broadway production company Ballad of Mulan signed for 3K SF with representation from Jonathan Mines of the Mines Group, law firm Miller Korzenik Sommers Rayman renewed its 4K SF, musical theater and immersive experience producer Crossroads Live took 3K SF with help from Cushman & Wakefield’s Jack McCann, and Salmen Navarro Law expanded to 3K SF. Newmarks’ Stephen Gordon, Matthew Leon and Nathan Kropp represented ownership in the transactions.
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Clarion Partners, LaSalle Investment Management and Banyan Street Capital signed three leases totaling 29K SF at their 180 Maiden Lane skyscraper in the Financial District, Commercial Observer reported. Basis Investment Group signed for 10K SF to relocate from JEMB Realty’s 75 Broad St. Small business lender Royal Funding Group expanded its lease in the property to 7K SF, while engineering consultant Walter P Moore, which has been in the building since 2016, plans to move to a larger, 12K SF space. Asking rents in the leases reportedly ranged from $58 to $65 per SF. Tara Stacom, Justin Royce, Frank Cento and Connor Daugstrup of Cushman & Wakefield handled the deals for the landlord, alongside Jesse Rubens of JLR Realty, while Integrative Partners’ Shawna Menifee repped Basis, C&W’s Trey Strake, Rob Lowe and Nicholas Dysenchuk repped Walter P Moore and Norman Bobrow & Co.’s Travis Egenberg repped Royal Funding.
Ethan Rothstein contributed to this report.
